BPOV
I hadn't made this recipe in years. My dad taught it to me when I was barely old enough to look over the counter. Alice didn't like me to make it because it was dads favorite and she doesn't like to be reminded that we weren't good enough for him. This was the first time in probably 5 years I made it. For some reason I wanted to share it with Edward. Dinner was ready about 615 and we all sat down to eat. Besides the beef steak, we had salad, bread, and cheese quesadillas that we fried up on the grill. They just taste better that way then when you nuke them in the microwave for a couple seconds.
"This is absolutely wonderful Bella, why did you ever hide this from us." Linda teased.
"She's right Bella, this is amazing." Edward agreed.
"Thank my dad. He's the one that taught it to me." I replied. Walt and Linda offered to do the dishes and I lead Edward back outside to the barn.
"What are we doing out here. I thought we were done with the chores." He asked, curious.
"After dinner I like to take Sir Prize out riding for an hour or so. It help relax me before I go to bed." She replied somewhat timidly.
"So, why did you bring me out here?" She looked at me.
"I just figured that you could come with me tonight." He stopped dead in his tracks, and since he was holding my hand, I was pulled to a stop with him. I looked up to see his face had paled slightly.
"Edward, what's wrong?"
"Bella, I have never even seen a horse in real life much less ridden one. I think I will just watch."
"Its not that hard Edward. I will get them saddled and everything."
"Bella, I don't know if I want to do this."
"Edward," I looked at him sincerely. "Do you really think I would let a horse hurt you? You will be riding Princess and trust me when I say that a meteor could hit the ground 10 ft away from her and she wouldn't even flinch." He didn't look convinced. "Please. For me?" I gave him my best pouty face and he caved.
"Alright. But if I die you will be the first person I am going to haunt." I laughed.
"You aren't going to die." I drug him into the barn and went into the stalls to get Sir Prize and Princess saddled up. We were ready to go in about 15 minutes. I let Sir Prize out and tied his reins around one of the fence posts and brought Princess over to where Edward was standing. He looked nervous but didn't budge.
"Ok right now I just want you to let her smell you a bit." He threw me a disbelieving look. I laughed again. "I know it sounds weird, but if she gets used to your scent, she is less likely to buck you off and more likely to do as you want her to."
"Well that is reassuring," he remarked sarcastically, but walked over slowly and raised his hand to her nose. She sniffed his hand and stepped closer to nudge his chest with her nose, getting used to him. He got a little more comfortable after a bit and started rubbing her neck with one hand because she was still sniffing the other.
"See, its not so bad now is it." I said coming to stand next to hi, and nudging him with my shoulder.
"Now what?" he asked slightly more relaxed than before.
"Now I want you to come over here and mount up. Its not as hard as it sounds you just need to put your left foot in the stirrup and pull yourself up using the horn on the saddle."
"Ok." He still sounded a little unsure but came over to stand beside Princess.
"Now, you need to remember that you always, always mount from the left side."
"Am I gonna be doing this a lot?" he asked. I chuckled slightly.
"If you are going to be dating me, you are definitely going to be riding horses a lot. Oh, and before I forget," I pulled the cowboy hat that I had been hiding out from behind my back and set it on his head. "You have to look the part." His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at me, but the full blown smile on his face told me he didn't mind that much. He did as I instructed, and mounted up with ease. I handed him the reins and then walked over to Sir Prize, gathered the reins and mounted up myself. I looked over at Edward to see him still smiling.
"I think I can honestly say I never thought I would ever be sitting on top of a horse wearing a cowboy hat." This made me laugh yet again. He looked absolutely adorable in the cowboy shirt that Linda gave him to wear, and the hat just added to the affect. He actually looked like he belonged on a farm.
"Ready to head out?" I needed something to distract me from how much I wanted to kiss him right now. Besides, it would be a little awkward seeing as we were sitting on separate horses.
"I think so. Just as long as we walk. I don't think I am up for testing how fast she can run right now."
"We won't run tonight. The ground will be to uneven and soft from yesterdays rain."
"Good now I have a decent excuse to tell Emmett when he tries to make fun of me for being scared to ride a horse."
We headed out and I gave him instructions as he needed them. He caught on rather fast and before we knew it, it was time to head back in. there was still plenty of light but I wanted to brush them a bit before I put them away for the night. I showed Edward how to take off Princess' saddle and blankets and he grabbed some of the brushes and started grooming her. We settled them into their stalls and headed back to the house. It was only 9 so we decided to settle in and watch a movie. I fell asleep about half way through and woke up to Edward whispering in my ear, his fingers running absently through my hair, which wasn't helping me wake up any.
"Bella, sweetheart you need to get to bed. Come on."
"No, I'll be ok long enough to walk you out to your truck."
"You aren't walking me to my truck Bella, you can barely stand." He sounded amused.
"Don't be absurd. I can walk just fine." I tried to stand up and staggered. Edward caught me and set me on my feet. I steadied myself, but he didn't let go. I looked up to see him staring at me and I couldn't look away either.
"You are so beautiful, Bella." He said, and then leaned down and gently kissed my lips. He pulled away all too soon to look at me again, and neither one of us could stop our smiles. I put my arms around his neck and pulled him back into another kiss. I knew that I had to get to bed and he needed to leave, but I didn't want this to end. I felt him pull away slightly and rest his forehead against mine and sighed.
"Bella, you need some sleep. We can't keep staying up this late." He chuckled to himself.
"I know." I looked up at him and sighed. "I don't think I can make it to the door. Do you mind terribly if I don't walk you out." He his shoulders began to shake.
"Bella you need to stop taking care of others and start taking care of yourself more." He yawned and ran his fingers through his hair. "I need to get going, the drive home for me is longer than it is for you." He let go of me and started towards the door and then turned around and grabbed me to kiss me again.
"Night Bells." He said, then turned and walked out the door, closing it silently behind him.
I slept like a log that night, and the next morning woke up early and rearing to go. I went through my morning chores faster than usual, and decided to drive out to the lake to run the trail. I had slacked a bit in the last few months, but this morning I was just in the mood for a good long run. I poked my head in the kitchen knowing I would find Ang working on breakfast.
"Hey Ang, I'm gonna go for a run at the lake. I'll be back in a few hours."
"Alright, I will put something in the fridge for you." I grabbed my mp3 player and headed out. The trail was about 3 miles long and at a good pace I could do it in about an hour. I made sure to grab a water bottle so I didn't have to stop at the public fountains along the trail. It was just gross to think about all the people that had drank from it. I started out and immediately began to regret not running for a month. The familiar burn began to work its way up my legs and my lungs felt on fire. Strangely enough, it was feeling I missed. I had my mp3 player on shuffle and then next song that started playing was Long Train Running by the Doobie Brothers. I mouthed the words along with the song, seeing as it was a little difficult to sing while you were running. I was about to the second mile marker when I felt like someone was watching me. I slowed down slightly and looked behind me. Sure enough, there was a man running a little ways behind me keeping a steady pace. I mentally shook myself and continued jogging. Tons of people ran this trail everyday, I'm sure its nothing. I was now on the part of the trail where it was mostly woods.
The lake could be seen but the trail had started on an incline so it was a bit of a ways down. My legs were starting to ache and I decided to rest against the nearest tree. The man kept running on past me, and after I caught my breath a bit, I started out again. I had only been running for about 15 minutes or so when I rounded a corner and saw the man that had been following me sitting on the ground clutching his ankle. I came up on him and stopped.
"Sir are you ok?" I asked. He was rocking slightly and groaning.
"I don't know. I think I must have tripped over a rock or something. One minute I was running and the next I had face planted into the ground." He had a few scratches on his face and his knees where slightly torn and bloody."
"Can you tell me what hurts." I was glad I took that CPR course at the college.
"It's my ankle. I can barely move it." I crouched down in front of him to get a closer look at it, when he reached over and grabbed my hair. I looked up to see his evil smile as he tried to drag me in to the bushes. I tried to struggle but I didn't get anywhere whit the angle that I was at. I slipped on a mossy rock and fell down causing my hair to be ripped out of his hand. I stood up fast as he tried to advance towards me. I will always be grateful Alice made me take that kick boxing class. I kicked him hard in the side and then caught him in the jaw with a left hook that knocked him on the ground. I turned and started to run back towards the trail, but the ground was uneven and I tripped on what must have been a tree root. I tumbled and rolled down the slight hill, and at one point I hit the ground and felt my leg snap. I tried to scream but I couldn't get out a sound. I rolled on to the trail and came to a halt as my head bashed into the ground, only to see that the man was coming out of the bushes and towards me again. I tried to scream again but he covered my mouth and punched me in the ribs, stealing the rest of my breath. My vision started to blur when I heard someone shout from somewhere down the trail. The man stood back up and glared down at me, then kicked me hard in the side again and ran off. The last thing I remember was a blurry face appearing in front of me when everything went black.